In the health sector, e.g. in hospitals, old people's homes or in home care, mechanical aids are used for performing heavy lifting, e.g. lifting of a patient from bed to chair, or a person from a position in a house to another position in the house.
These mechanical hoisting devices have typically ceiling-mounted rails in which a hoisting module equipped with a height adjustable lifting strap is used, so that the lifting bracket fitted in the lifting strap may be elevated and lowered to the desired level. A lifting canvas is typically provided in the lifting bracket in which the user is placed when he is to be moved.
Typically, in a room with permanently installed hoisting device, there will be provided a number of ceiling-mounted rails and a lifting module so that the user, irrespectively of his position in the room, can be moved.
Since such a hoisting device with a hoisting module and a trolley mounted in the rails is expensive to purchase and install, it would be advantageous if the hoisting module could be carried from room to room in which a rail system is pre-mounted. This would reduce the costs of establishing hoisting devices on e.g. a hospital/nursing home as one hoisting module can be used for about every fifth room.
In order that this may be possible, the hoisting module is to be movable. This entails in turn that each time the assistant goes into a new room, the hoisting module is to be mounted before use and dismounted after use.
Today, different mobile hoisting modules exist which are either lifted up and put on the trolley manually, or the modules are placed in the trolley by means of e.g. auxiliary rods or hooks. The drawback of this is that each time the assistant is to suspend the hoisting module in the trolley, some physical work is required, and repeated mounting and dismounting will cause a considerable work load on the assistant.
Furthermore, there is another drawback of this system. The drawback is that the trolley is disposed in the ceiling-mounted rails which are typically at a level more than 2 m above the floor, meaning that the assistant is to lift hoisting module, typically weighing between 4 and 10 kgs, up from the floor and to an overhead position for mounting the hoisting module on the trolley at all. This movement is inexpedient for the assistant since it implies a heavy lift which according to the Labour Environment Act is to be reduced or entirely removed.
The trolleys may have hanging straps which is a disadvantage since the free height is reduced.
Another hoisting module is adapted so that the lifting strap is pulled from the hoisting module and up to the trolley and mounted in the trolley. This entails that one does not need to lift the hoisting module itself. The drawback of this is, however, that the lifting bracket, which is disposed directly under the hoisting module, causes that the person sitting in the lifting canvas will either get his view blocked by the hoisting module during the transport or hit his head against the hoisting module as it is situated at a level at which a person sitting in a lifting canvas will have his head. This is a great disadvantage for a person that cannot control his body movements by himself.
The existing mobile hoisting modules are also typically packed down into bags, where lifting bracket, lifting canvas, charger and batteries are packed down into the bag so that the assistant is to carry the bag from room to room or from a vehicle and into a flat. This is a drawback since the assistant is to perform a heavy lift again.